Newton N. Minow Wife: Meet Josephine Baskin

Josephine Baskin was the wife of Newton Norman Minow an American lawyer who presided over the Federal Communications Commission.

The couple got married in 1949. They had three daughters, all trained as lawyers; Nell Minow, shareholder activist and movie critic; Martha L. Minow, former dean of Harvard Law School; and Mary, a library law expert appointed to the Obama administration.

Newton Norman Minow’s wife Josephine Baskin Minow died on February 17, 2022, at the age of 95.

Newton N. Minow, passed away of a heart attack on May 6 2023, at his home in Chicago. He was 97. The Associated Press confirmed Minow’s death on Saturday afternoon.

Newton Minow was the FCC’s chief for two years during President John F. Kennedy’s administration, and he made headlines in 1961 when he called network television “a vast wasteland.”

President Barack Obama bestowed the Presidential Medal of Freedom on Minow in 2016, the nation’s highest civilian honour.

Newton Minow spent his career writing books and articles, lecturing, campaigning for programming reforms, and serving as co-chairman of the Commission on Presidential Debates board.